It happened. "Twerking" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary. The rump-busting up-and-down dance move long beloved on America's hip-hop scene, has officially gone mainstream. Britain's Oxford Dictionaries said the rapid-fire gyrations employed by U.S. pop starlet Miley Cyrus to bounce her way to the top of the charts had become increasingly visible in the past 12 months and would be added to its publications under the entry: "Twerk, verb."
The raunchy dance move is one of several new words which have been added as part of the dictionary's quarterly update. Other new inclusions include "omnishambles," which was made famous by sitcom "The Thick Of It," and "selfie." Spokeswoman Katherine Connor Martin said the dictionary, which is one of the largest dictionaries in the world and dates back 150 years, adds about 1,000 new entries to its online version every year.
She said the word "twerk" has been around for 20 years but has generated enough evidence of usage to be added to its online dictionaries with Miley Cyrus hitting headlines this week for "twerking" at the MTV Video Music Awards. Arising in the early 1990s, the word is described in the dictionary as "a dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance".
Cyrus' twerk-happy performance at the VMA's has sparked major controversy. During a medley of her recent Number One hit "We Can't Stop" and Robin Thicke's singles "Blurred Lines" and "Give It 2 U," Cyrus stripped down to a flesh-colored leather two-piece and was seen pointing at Thicke's crotch with a foam finger before twerking provocatively against his crotch.
"There are many theories about the origin of this word, and since it arose in oral use, we may never know the answer for sure," Connor Martin told The Associated Press. "We think the most likely theory is that it is an alteration of work, because that word has a history of being used in similar ways, with dancers being encouraged to 'work it.' The 't' could be a result of blending with another word such as twist or twitch." And Miley sure was "working it" against Robin Thicke! (Poor Paula Patton, although she said she was "cool" with the performance, watching Cyrus grope her husband was very disturbing).
Connor Martin went on comparing the now-mainstream "twerk" with the "twist." "The current public reaction to twerking is reminiscent in some ways of how the twisting craze was regarded in the early 1960s, when it was first popularized by Chubby Checker's song, 'The Twist,'" she said. "Only time will tell if twerking will similarly be embraced by the general public."
Other words that also made the list? "Phablet," which is a smartphone so big that almost looks like a tablet, "selfie" which means photographing oneself, usually on a telephone camera held at arm's length, "food baby" which refers to a swelling of the gut caused by overindulgence rather than pregnancy. Also, "squee," "vom," and "jorts" made the list, along with "unlike", the withdrawal of approval on social media, "digital detox", where a person refrains from using smartphones or computers, and "fomo" or fear of missing out - anxiety that an interesting event may be happening elsewhere.
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